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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857613">Learning How to (Be) Teach</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DasScribbler/pseuds/DasScribbler'>DasScribbler</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Life Lessons [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, How Do I Tag, I started thinking too hard about teaching, probably will turn into Claudeth later because I obsessively ship it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:53:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,002</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DasScribbler/pseuds/DasScribbler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's one thing to know how to kill a man in twenty different ways. It's another entirely to know how to present that in lecture format.</p><p>A.k.a. Byleth gets to know a little bit about the Golden Deer students, how to teach, and herself all at the same time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>My Unit | Byleth &amp; Claude von Riegan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Life Lessons [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643185</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Learning How to (Be) Teach</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first fanfic in something like 8 years and my first A03 fic so uh. Yeah.<br/>What can I say? I can't stop thinking about these characters, especially Claude. He knows I love him.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Thursday 24, Great Tree Moon </em>
</p><p>“This is for you…Professor”, Seteth says, the last word coming out as a begrudging afterthought. Byleth supposes she can’t fault the man’s reticence or his worries concerning her sudden appointment to the role of academy professor. She has her own concerns which in are no way lessened by the stack of folders Seteth pushes across his desk towards her.  </p><p>“Thank you,” Byleth says politely, even if she has no idea exactly what she is thanking him for. She opens the first folder to find a sheet of paper covered in unfamiliar handwriting. <em>Claude von Riegen. Golden Deer (house leader). Heir to House Riegen</em>. Underneath this heading there are several tables with various notes.</p><p>“There’s not much there, but those are all the previous assignment and test grades as recorded by the previous Golden Deer professor,” Seteth says in a business-like tone. “In the next folder is a copy of the Academy student records; this goes for all these documents, but please be particularly careful not to misplace these files. The third folder contains the course curriculum for this year. Of course, each student will have personalized goals but that should give you an idea of our academic standards. Do you have any questions so far?”</p><p><em>Yes</em>, Byleth thinks but is unable to say. Seteth evidently takes her perpetually stony stare as confirmation to continue speaking.</p><p>“Excellent. I have also included a calendar for the academic year. Please pay careful attention to the marked faculty meeting dates as well as grading deadlines. Considering the…unusual circumstances of your hiring, I am willing to negotiate pushing back the date of your probational teaching observation. For now, I shall mark it for…the eighteenth of the Garland Moon.”</p><p>Seteth pauses to scrawl down this onto a sheet of paper on his desk. The pause in the barrage of information gives Byleth enough time to interject. “What is this,” she reads the top of the page quickly, “lesson plan, exactly?”</p><p>“That’s one of the previous professor’s documents,” Seteth says after giving the document a quick glance. “While there is a preferred Officer’s Academy lesson plan format, it is not mandatory; Professor Manuela, for example, uses a template of her own design which works well for her. If I recall correctly, Manuela has placed some of her own pedagogical resources in the library for general use. I’m sure you will find them useful.”</p><p>None of this comes remotely close to telling Byleth what a lesson plan is but before she can clarify her question, there is a knock at the door as a brown skinned boy appears. “Seteth? Lady Rhea wants to know if you’ve got a minute.”</p><p>“Ah, yes, thank you, Cyril. Please tell Lady Rhea that I’ll be there in a minute,” Seteth answers as he stands up. “Well, that should be all of the documents you need. I take the education of our students very seriously and I do hope you will prove a better teacher than our last hire. If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to ask me.”</p><p>Byleth thinks there is little chance of that as she shakes Seteth hand goodbye. Somehow, she doubts that Seteth’s opinion of her is likely to improve if she shows up a week later confessing she didn’t understand anything he had said today. Byleth grabs the stack of documents and relocates to the library. She hopes that once she’s had a chance to read all the documents, the whole matter of how to teach will be made clearer.</p><p>Hours of reading later, Byleth is no longer as hopeful. The sheer scope of her new job is overwhelming. Byleth had initially been reassured that at the very least she would be able to teach basic swordsmanship but apparently, she would also be responsible for teaching archery, lance technique, axe wielding and more. While she was a capable horse rider, Byleth could count the number of times she had ridden a pegasus on one hand and still have fingers to spare. And then there was the magic curriculum. She had never so much as magically heat a teacup and now she was expected to teach reason to students? To <em>Lysithea</em>?</p><p>When Byleth can no longer ignore the rumbling from her stomach, she gives up. “One thing at a time,” she mutters to herself as she retires to her private quarters after a quick meal in the dining hall. She spends the rest of the evening reviewing the recorded weapon skills of each of the Golden Deer and planning how best to prepare them for the upcoming mock battle; <em>this</em>, she knows how to handle. She’ll figure out how to plan a lecture later.</p><p>*</p><p>
  <em>Friday 25, Great Tree Moon </em>
</p><p>Byleth wakes up earlier than usual the next morning, her stomach full of something like pre-battle nerves. Breakfast is quiet; there is only a handful of people in the dining hall at this hour. There are even fewer students up and about by the time she makes her way to the classroom. On the chalkboard, she writes, <em>“Come to the training grounds. – Byleth.” </em>By the time she reaches the training grounds, there is still an hour before lectures begin. To still her nerves, Byleth picks up a practice sword and turns to one of the training dummies. The fluttery sensation in her stomach lessens somewhat as she works, and she can almost forget what is coming up.</p><p>One by one, her students show up. Some of them look wary when they see her practicing – Marianne looks ready to slink into the shadows and disappear altogether. Others look thrilled at the change from the usual classroom environment (“No sitting at a tiny desk today!” Raphael booms jovially as he enters). Claude is the last one to show up. From the corner of her eye, she sees the house leader pause and look at her appraisingly before joining the corner where the rest of his classmates stand.</p><p>Byleth supposes she can’t stall any longer. “Good morning,” she says as she walks over to the class. Her pulse is faster than usual but it’s not from the sword practice. There are a few mutters of “good morning” in response and then it is quiet as the students look at her expectantly. Byleth wonders if she should reintroduce herself or maybe explain why they aren’t in the classroom today? The longer she goes without speaking, the worse the quiet becomes.</p><p>“So we’re doing physical training today?” Leonie asks, the first to break the silence.</p><p>Byleth clears her throat and nods, grateful for the prompt. “Yes. I thought we could do some practical exercises today.”</p><p>“An excellent idea. We want to secure victory for the Golden Deer in the upcoming mock battle, after all,” Lorenz agrees. “Will you be teaching us a particular technique?”</p><p>“Well-“ Byleth starts but Hilda interrupts her.</p><p>“With so little time before the battle, I don’t think I could properly learn anything new. I think we should probably just do some individual practice on what we’re each best at.”</p><p>“Alright, I could use some more grappling time!” Raphael says enthusiastically and is alright starting to move towards the training dummies but Lysithea interjects sharply.</p><p>“Will all of you be quiet and stop interrupting the professor?” The white-haired girl scowls as Raphael rubs the back of his head sheepishly. “Honestly!”</p><p>“Actually,” Byleth says slowly. “I thought I could do some practice with each of you.</p><p>There is a beat of tense silence as each of the Golden Deer let her words sink in. Byleth sees thoughtful, intrigued, and horrified faces in equal numbers. The only student who looks outright excited is Leonie, who exclaims, <em>“Yes!</em>”</p><p>“<em>We’re</em> going to fight <em>you</em>, Professor?” Ignatz stammers, his eyes wide with dread.  </p><p>“You’re going to <em>spar </em>me,” Byleth corrects him. “I haven’t seen any of you in battle. This is the fastest way for me to learn your strengths and weaknesses.”</p><p>“I suppose that makes sense,” Lysithea says thoughtfully. Her lavender eyes flicker somewhat apprehensively to the training sword in Byleth’s hand. “It doesn’t seem very fair, though. We’re just students whereas you’re an experienced mercenary. Wouldn’t it make more sense if you partnered us up so you could watch us spar each other?”</p><p>“Oooh, I much prefer that idea!” Hilda pitches in. “It’ll be a lot faster than if you fight us one by one so why don’t we do that instead, Professor?”</p><p>Byleth suspects the pig-tailed girl is much more excited by the prospect of being paired with a lenient partner than by teaching efficiency. Instead of this, she says, “You’re all comfortable with each other and that’s not what it’s going to be like during the mock battle. I want to see how you react under pressure.” Hilda bites her lip and says nothing but Byleth thinks the girl looks nervous underneath the cheery demeanor.</p><p>“In other words, it’s so none of us can slack off,” Claude says teasingly. It’s the first time he has spoken; unlike his classmates, he sounds completely at ease. “However, you’ve already seen me fight and in a <em>real </em>battle, too. Any chance I can sit this one out?”</p><p>“Not even a little,” Byleth responds. “In fact, I was hoping you could be my first sparring partner.”</p><p>“Awww, really, Teach?” Claude groans dramatically. “And here I was hoping you would take it easy on us on the first lesson at least.”</p><p>Leonie rolls her eyes at her house leader’s antics. “Come on, Claude. Take this seriously, will you?”</p><p>“Hey, I’m taking this very seriously,” Claude says as he makes his way over the weapons rack. He picks up a training bow and gives the bowstring an experimental tug. “However, I generally like to win my battles and against Teach here, I somehow feel like that won’t be the case. Does it matter which weapon we use?” he asks Byleth, who shakes her head.</p><p>“Use whatever you’re comfortable with. I want to see your usual battle habits,” she says.</p><p>“In that case…” Claude says thoughtfully. He considers the bow in the hand before putting it away and picking up a practice sword instead. Byleth raises one eyebrow but says nothing as the dark-haired boy joins her in the middle of the grounds.</p><p>“When you’re ready,” Byleth says evenly. It’s Claude’s turn to raise an eyebrow.</p><p>“Not even going to ask someone else to count us in? I guess your confidence is earned,” he says in a conversational tone. “Seriously, guys, Teach’s swordsmanship is the real deal. Just thinking about being on the wrong end of that blade is pretty scary.”</p><p>“Yes, yes, you’ve been going on about the Professor’s battle prowess all week,” Hilda calls back impatiently. “Are you going to fight or not?”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, just...you know I’m having second thoughts about my choice of weapon.” Claude lowers the sword and sighs, making his way back to the weapons rack while talking all the while. “Not that it’ll probably matter what I end up using but I definitely don’t stand a chance in a contest of sword skill. I use a lance I’ll have the advantage of reach but I’m not exactly his Princeliness when it comes to using them so that's probably not the best idea either. Now, if only I could use a bow then I’d have a chance. But, alas, that’s really only viable -“</p><p>Without so much as a change intone, Claude spins around and throws the practice sword directly at Byleth. She manages to raise her sword up just in time to deflect it but then is forced to roll out of the way as that first projectile is followed up with two arrows, one of them narrowly missing her head.</p><p>“-from a distance,” Claude continues casually. Somehow in the short time between throwing his sword and grabbing a practice bow, he managed to hastily throw a quiver over his shoulder as well; it dangles awkwardly as he reaches for another arrow. “Yep, this whole one-on-one sparring business is tricky for us archers.”</p><p>At this unexpected turn of events, there is an explosion of excited noise from the sidelines. Byleth can barely hear Lorenz’s scandalized sputtering over Raphael loudly whooping.</p><p>“That was <em>hardly </em>an honorable way to conduct oneself- “</p><p>“Oh, lighten up, Lorenz, who cares when it means he might win against the <em>Professor</em>!” Hilda crows, jumping up and down excitedly.</p><p>Claude has moved away from the weapons rack at this point but he still maintains a safe distance. Whenever Byleth tries to close the distance, she is forced to deflect multiple arrows, giving Claude enough time to reposition himself.</p><p>“Guess we’re at a stalemate, huh, Teach?” Claude calls.</p><p>“Not quite,” Byleth replies grimly, her eyes resting on the training sword Claude hurled at her. He follows her gaze and grins.</p><p>“Bit risky, don’t you think? Wouldn’t it be better just to call it a dra-“</p><p>Byleth doesn’t give him a chance to finish his sentence and breaks into an all out run towards him. Startled, Claude loses another arrow at her which she doesn’t bother deflecting. She ignores the pain as the arrow hits her left arm and hurls the sword directly at Claude. He is forced to duck out of the way; his quiver swings wildly and a few arrows go flying loose. By the time Claude recovers, she is upon him. With one hand she knocks his bow arm askew and he staggers, thrown off balance; the other hand holds the dagger she usually carries at her hip, the point of which is now mere inches away from Claude’s throat.</p><p>“Do you yield?” Byleth asks. Claude tenses briefly before sighing in defeat, dropping the practice bow and raising his hands in surrender. Behind them, the Golden Deer have broken into raucous applause.</p><p>“Don’t have a choice, do I?” He relaxes when Byleth lowers her weapon and rubs the back of his head ruefully. “Oh, well, for a last-minute scheme, it went pretty well.”</p><p>“It might have worked if I hadn’t been prepared. The last professor wrote that you prefer the axe when you have to fight at close quarters,” she explains when he looks at her questioningly. “When you didn’t pick the axe, I suspected you had something in mind.”</p><p>Claude gives her an odd look for a moment before he finds his usual easy grin. “Oof, it hurts to know I’m so predictable,” Claude says. “I’ll keep that in mind for my next scheme. Is your arm okay?”</p><p>Byleth had forgotten about the pain but now that the adrenaline was dying down, she could feel the dull ache where the blunt had struck her upper arm. “It’s fine,” she shrugs. “Nothing that’ll bother me.”</p><p>“All the same it’s probably best if we patch it up. Hey, Marianne, mind if we borrow you?” Claude calls towards the blue-haired girl who nods. Her hands glow white as she tends to Byleth’s bruised arm. “Marianne’s our resident healer so you might want to keep that in mind when you spar her.”</p><p>“I’ll do that. Thank you, Marianne,” Byleth nods at the girl, who smiles timidly in response.</p><p>“My turn next!” Leonie says excitedly, her eyes aglow with anticipation.</p><p>“Give Marianne a minute, will you? I’m sure Teach can defeat you even with a handicap but Lorenz will probably die from the dishonour,” Claude says jokingly.</p><p>The rest of the spars are not nearly as exciting but illuminating all the same. The awkward atmosphere from earlier has completely vanished and the Golden Deer cheer, groan, and applaud in turns for each other. Leonie is quick on her feet and clearly hasn’t been slacking since her time as Jeralt’s apprentice but she doesn’t have Byleth’s experience, who manages to disarm her after a few minutes. Lorenz’s lance skills are arguably even better, but his movements are also more rigid and finds himself outmaneuvered a sword at his throat. There is a moment facing Raphael when Byleth comes a little too close to getting caught in one of his punches than she would have liked but otherwise, his punches might as well have been telegraphed for how close they came to hitting her. There is a look of almost comical surprise when she finally sweeps Raphael’s leg from under him, but he laughs good naturedly even as he yields.</p><p>Lysithea is next and lasts the longest out of all of them, strategically keeping Byleth at bay with well placed spells. She is the only person after Claude to come close to landing a significant blow when she manages to catch the sleeve of Byleth’s jacket on fire but is eventually overwhelmed. On the other end, Ignatz is defeated the quickest, wincing harshly when Byleth knocks the sword out of his hands. When it comes time for Marianne’s turn, it ends up less as a spar and more of a cheerleading session as all the Golden Deer and even Byleth herself coax the shy girl into attacking. When Marianne finally does cast Nosferatu, the resulting cheer from her classmate could have been mistaken for a victory cry. Predictably, Hilda gives up after a minute of showcasing surprisingly capable axe wielding skills.</p><p>“Not bad,” Byleth says as the Golden Deer finish clapping for Hilda. She glances at the sun and is surprised to see how much farther down it is; she guesses at least an hour has passed since the start of the lesson. “Now that I have an idea of how everyone fights, we’re going to drill specific things.”</p><p>“More practice? You sure do like to keep us busy, Professor” Hilda sighs but other than that, she is surprisingly cooperative for the rest of the lesson. Byleth pairs her students off - Claude and Leonie, Hilda and Raphael, Lorenz and Lysithea, Ignatz and Marianne – and tasks them with sparring each other. She walks around, occasionally making observations or demonstrating, but mostly watching. When they regroup after the lunch break, Byleth pits the pairs of students against each other in two-against-two mock battles. It comes as a surprise when the monastery bells ring signalling the end of lesson time.</p><p>“Good work, everyone,” Byleth congratulates her students, who all look tired but pleased with themselves. “We’ll do some larger scale mock battles Monday so meet up again here next lesson.”</p><p>“Professor?” Lysithea interjects, raising her hand. “We were told that only 5 members of each house, including the professor, will actually participate in the mock battle. Have you decided which of us will be taking part?”</p><p>“Um”, Byleth says, blinking once. She hadn’t known that key bit of information and is caught off guard. “I’ll take the weekend to decide. Until then, keep practicing what we worked on today.” She lets out a quiet sigh of relief as the Golden Deer begin to chat amongst themselves and file out of the training grounds. This kind of training, she can do, having engaged in these sorts of sessions regularly with other mercenaries. Byleth wonders what the chances are of Seteth allowing her just to relocate entirely to the training grounds and leave the classroom out of the equation altogether.</p><p> “Hey,” someone says. Byleth breaks out of her reverie and looks up to see that Claude has lingered behind. “I just wanted to say that was a really great lesson today, Teach. I mean it,” he says earnestly at the blank look on Byleth’s face. “It was really fun and we all learned a lot today.”</p><p>“I’m glad. I was surprised by how well you all did,” Byleth admits.</p><p>“You mean you’re surprised by how hard we all worked,” Claude grins. “I admit, I don’t think I’ve ever seen my fellow Golden Deer take a lesson so seriously. Even Hilda was trying and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her take anything seriously – aside from accessorizing her outfit, of course.”</p><p>“She’ll be a force to be reckoned with,” Byleth agrees, hiding her amusement at Claude’s remarks. “If I can convince her out of the laziness, she’ll be one of our strongest fighters.”</p><p>“One of our strongest fighters, eh? I’m sure she’ll be perfectly horrified to hear that,” Claude rejoins, smirking at the thought. “And what about me? Don’t worry about hurting my feelings; if I was awful, feel free to lay into me.”</p><p>Byleth glances up at him. The house leader’s tone is light but his eyes are curious as he watches her, waiting for her response. She is suddenly sure that just as she has been observing his classmates all day, Claude has been in turn watching her with that sharp gaze.  </p><p>“You don’t need me to tell you that your bow skills are excellent,” Byleth says thoughtfully. “Your footwork is good and even under pressure, you show a strong capacity for on the fly decision making. But I’m still mystified by our first spar.”</p><p>“Why I chose to start with the sword instead of an axe? I admit, that part of my scheme was poorly thought out,” Claude shrugs regretfully. “It was short-sighted of me not to consider that you had already read our student records.”</p><p>“No, not that,” Byleth shakes her head. “The more I think about it, the more I don’t understand why you just didn’t start with a bow in the first place.”</p><p>Claude raises an eyebrow. “Are you seriously suggesting that a bow is better than an axe when in close range combat?”</p><p>“I’m suggesting that you know better than to try it,” Byleth counters. She crosses her arms as she really appraises the house leader. His casual standing stance suggests relaxation but his eyes give away how intently he is listening to her words. “You were very good at keeping yourself outside of my range. I don’t think you needed that little stunt to set it up, either; you’re fast enough that you could’ve maintained that distance even if you had started with a bow.”</p><p>“Sure, maybe, but you would’ve rushed me anyways,” Claude suggests.</p><p>“Maybe, but it would have been a lot harder if you weren’t handicapped by your quiver,” Byleth disagrees.</p><p>“My quiver?”</p><p>“You didn’t have time to proper sling it over your shoulder. The awkward position slowed down your redraw speed. And when you dodged my sword, your quiver got completely misplaced. If you had set-up properly to begin with, you could have nocked another arrow in time,” Byleth concludes, her brow furrowing slightly in her confusion. “If you hadn’t decided to show off or whatever the sword throwing was, it really might have been a draw.”</p><p>For whatever reason, a slow smile spreads over Claude’s face during this explanation. It’s different from the easy grins he has been wearing ever since she has met him, the arc of it more awkward, wider and softer. His eyes are still guarded but she could swear she sees something akin to fondness in them, too.    </p><p>“Wow, you flatter me, Teach,” Claude says after a slight pause. His voice is smooth as ever but that unfamiliar, softer smile is still there. “I’ll try my best but honestly, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop the theatrics entirely.”</p><p>“Will it really be that hard?” Byleth asks with some amusement.</p><p>“As I’m sure Lorenz will attest to, causing these sorts of scandalous situations is all I’m good for,” Claude feigns a sigh. “At least it lightens the mood. I’ve got to run but thanks for the chat, Teach – it was <em>very </em>informative.”</p><p>The usual grin is back on his face as he gives her a small wave goodbye and she watches him walk out of the training grounds. He was right, she realizes, about lightening the mood. From the moment he had thrown the sword – actually, from the moment he had spoken –Claude had been subtly putting his classmates at ease. She wonders if the rest of the lesson would’ve been so much “fun” if it wasn’t for that outrageous first spar.</p><p>Perhaps Claude hadn’t been entirely truthful about what his scheme today had been.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The original concept was VERY different and then it spun wildly out of control into this, probably because I actually do have a B.Ed so got a little too into the teaching aspect. Hopefully I'll eventually get to writing out the original plot because it's pretty damn cute. We'll see what happens.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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